Posts Tagged ‘HIV’

Issues such as gender-based violence and HIV can be taboo topics in some communities and behavioural change requires more than just awareness of the problems, says a country director with the British Council New Zealand, Ingrid Leary. She says churches are the major influences of behaviour and some can do much more to lead on Read more

While some groups still believe that people infected with HIV should be stigmatised as a deterrent, the majority view at this month’s International AIDS Conference in Melbourne is that victims and the social groups to which they belong must be empowered. The media is being encouraged to listen to stories such as Sarah’s: ‘As a Read more

Concerns have been expressed that laws against consensual sex between men in the Pacific region are undermining efforts to prevent and treat HIV. An international Aids conference in Melbourne last week was told about the problematic results of such laws. But men having sex with men remains illegal in more than one-third of all Pacific Read more

As many as 200,000 children are dying unnecessarily of AIDS each year in Asia and Africa because of the ignorance and stigma surrounding HIV, the virus that causes the illness. Even though HIV is now classified as a manageable chronic illness, these children are being shunned and literally left to die on the street or Read more

In Andhra Pradesh state in India, patients with AIDs have suffered discrimination in state-run hospitals and have turned to Catholic health centres. “When government hospitals refuse to treat these patients, the poor ones turn to nongovernment organisations and religious charities like Karunalayam, a Roman Catholic mission in Warangal,” stated a New York Times report. Continue Read more

The Pacific Conference of Churches, at the end of its tenth Assembly has passed resolutions about the following topics: Tahiti independence West Papua independence Freedom Sunday Nuclear testing Seabed mining Solidarity on mining Tourism, fishing and forestry Facilitating the concerns of members by engaging on the issue with agencies such as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Read more

Two senior ministers in Fiji’s Methodist Church have different views about a suggestion that the government legalise prostitution. Reverend Tuikilakila Waqairatu, the incoming president of the Church, is opposed to any move to legalise prostitution while Reverend Tevita Nawadra, who replaces him as general secretary, says he is in favour “Personally and, I think, the position Read more

Dangerous cases of faith leaders who tell people with HIV to stop taking their life-saving drugs have been identified by African-led community groups in a number of locations across England. Seven groups said there were instances of people being told by faith leaders they had been “healed” through prayer – and then pressured to stop Read more

Traditional herbal therapy organisations and practitioners in the Pacific have been told to stop misleading people living with HIV (PLHIV). The call was made by the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation in a statement. “PIAF’s call relates to certain traditional herbal therapy organisations and religious organisations in the region that have claimed that their herbal products Read more

The Bishops’ Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands has announced its “conscientious objection” to an education ministry directive that requires high schools to distribute condoms to students. “Even if the document issued by the Ministry of Education has many positive points, we cannot be forced to follow a policy which contradicts with Read more